Riyadh Metro celebrates arrival of Jazlah to its 1st Station on Orange Line

On 11/09/2015, the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh celebrated the arrival of Jazlah TBM (tunnel boring machine) to its first station on the Metro Orange Line (Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah Road-Prince Sa’ad Bin Abdulrahman-I Road Axis).

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, currently on a visit to the Kingdom, participated in the ceremony. He was received by Engr. Ibrahim Bin Mohammed Al-Sultan, Member of the High Commission and ADA President, ADA senior officials, and executives of the international coalitions executing and supervising King Abdulaziz Project for Public Transport in Riyadh (Metro and Buses).

During the ceremony, audience watched the head of Jazlah TBM coming out from the tunnel and breaching through the wall of the station at a depth of 25 meters.

The event marked completion of a ‎1.2-km ‎section of the ‎40.7–km Metro Orange Line between Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium, Al-Malaz District, and the first station next to Riyadh Railways Station, Al-Sen’aiya District.

Jazlah will keep boring and constructing until reaching Qasr Al-Hukm Palace Metro Station covering another 6.5-km section of the Orange Line starting from west of Riyadh (Jeddah Highway) and ending east of Riyadh (National Guard Camp in Khashm Al-‘An).

Jazlah is one of seven TBMs specially manufactured for the project to bore ‎35 kilometers of tunnels along the three metro lines (Orange, Green and Blue), and install precast concrete segmental linings as they move along these tunnels.‎

The TBMs length ranges from 90 to 120 meters, with each TBM weighing approximately 2,000 tons, and digging away about 50 truckloads of earth daily.

Metro Orange Line is carried out by Arriyadh New Mobility (ANM), a consortium led by Salini Impregilo, an Italian industrial group.

In a statement to the media, following the ceremony, Engr. Al-Sultan said, “The project reached these advanced stages by the grace of Allah, and then continuous support from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Crown Prince and the Deputy Crown Prince.”

“With 24% of works now complete, the project proceeds as scheduled,” he indicated, adding that the project has recruited more than 800 distinguished Saudi engineers, which is an additional source of pride.